Flowers and Flirting
by VeryDazzlingMuggle
Summary: "'How do I passively aggressively say 'fuck you' in a flower'" Or, Percy Jackson took the evening shift at his mom's flower shop expecting an easy night. He was not expecting a very pretty, angry girl coming in looking for a very specific flower, to say the least. Luckily, Percy knows a thing or two about flowers... and flirting. Companion/prequel to "Coffee and Courting"
1. Flowers and Flirting

Ding.

Percy, behind the counter, looked up from counting money. As usual, he was prepared to open his mouth and say, "Hi, can I help you?"

Instead, he stopped dead in his tracks as a girl (or woman, more like), stormed into his mother's flower shop with anger clearly evident on her face.

The girl slapped twenty dollars onto the counter in front of Percy.

Percy glanced down at the money.

The girl scowled.

"Can I help you?" Percy squeaked, then cleared his throat. For a moment, the girl's anger dissipated enough to look confused and exasperated.

Her gray eyes narrowed.

"How do I passively-aggressively say fuck you in a flower?"

Percy blinked.

"Excuse me?" was all he managed to croak out. He suddenly wished he hadn't volunteered to take this evening shift for his mom. Usually, the store wasn't busy in late afternoon and early evening time, but it seemed this random blond girl was an exception.

"How do I say fuck you?" The girl said impatiently, her hands on her hips. "That they're a piece of shit? That I - to put it nicely -" she fake smiled and Percy resisted the urge to step back, "hate them with my entire being and want them to die?"

Percy straightened. Be a professional about this, he told himself. He cleared his throat one last time.

"Okay, so," Percy quickly pulled out a flower book from under the counter (his mom always insisted on having a list ready, even though most people already knew what type of flower they were looking for). The girl lowered her arms.

Percy started flipping through the book, trying to concentrate on the flowers and not the girl's dark grey eyes, that were fierce but somehow beautiful at the same time. "Different flowers mean different things, as you probably know." The woman nodded, her scowl lessening, making Percy feel relieved.

"Now, it may be hard to find a flower that exactly means 'fuck you'," Percy threw in a joke as he scanned the book.

The girl snorted, which made Percy look up at her. Her eyes lightened as a smile flitted her face, before she forced herself to scowl again, avoiding Percy's gaze.

Percy looked back down at the book, a small smile on his face. She had a really pretty smile.

"... but we can get the general message across. Geraniums mean stupidity, which you're probably going for as well, but there's also foxglove for insincerity, and meadowsweet for uselessness." Percy looked back up to her with a deep breath.

The girl was no longer scowling, but she wasn't smiling either. Instead, she stared at Percy, who, feeling, uncomfortable, rushed on.

"I mean, if you don't like those, there's also some standard ones," he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. The girl was now pursing her lips, and Percy hoped that was in amusement instead of being weirded out. "For example, yellow carnations are a sign that you're disappointed in them, and orange lilies are for hatred."

Still, the girl only looked at him for wide eyes. She was incredulous, and Percy felt heat rush to his face.

"It'd be quite striking," he offered, his voice lowered. "And full of loathing, definitely….." the girl's lips quirked up. "A long as they knew anything about flowers…" he trailed off awkwardly, looking back down at the book. Of course he had just rambled on about goddamn flowers to a pretty girl. Typical.

A sweet, loud laugh came from his customer, making him look up suddenly. The girl's resolve had broken and she was now smiling.

"You know a lot about flowers," she said, which made Percy blush. Still, he was relieved that the girl was no longer angry. "However, I was thinking more along the lines of…" Her gray eyes looked around the shop interestedly.

"Maybe just a note saying, in bold of course, 'fuck you'?" Annabeth's slight glare had returned, but that was probably because of all the extremely brightly colored flowers. She wandered the small shop, gently touching the petals of a couple flowers. "A bouquet of wilted flowers, perhaps?"

Percy cleared his throat. "Uh, all our flowers are fresh, ma'am."

Annabeth's lips quirked up, making Percy's stomach flutter. Gods, he was embarrassing himself. "Of course they are," Annabeth nodded, her eyes bright.

"Well, what do you think I should do?" she asked Percy finally, turning around a slight silent pause that made Percy feel slightly awkward.

Percy blanched. "Uh, what?"

"What should I do?" The girl repeated. "I honestly don't even know why I came here, no offense…" the girl had a distant look. "I just like being passive aggressive, and like, flowers, y'know?" She shrugged. "But angry."

Percy resisted an urge to grin. "Well, if you don't mind me asking, who are you buying this for?"

Annabeth sighed as she walked back up to the counter. "An asshole," clarified.

Without helping himself, Percy replied. "Specific," he quipped.

Surprisingly, Annabeth laughed. "Trust me, he's pretty fucking horrible." She rolled her eyes, but her face was cold.

"No strong boyfriend to beat him up for you?" Again, Percy replied without thinking. He couldn't help it; this girl was easy to talk with. But gods, was he flirting with her?

The girl cocked an eyebrow. "You volunteering?" She quickly replied, making Percy blush and stutter.

"I didn't, um, I meant-"

"I'm just teasing," she assured, smirking. "I'm perfectly capable of beating him up myself, but I thought it'd be funnier to be passive aggressive… then again," the blonde pursed her lips. "Not sure he's smart enough to get the message."

Percy just nodded along, still blushing. It wasn't often people his age came in to a floral shop; and when they did, it was usually guys who were only there to impress their girlfriends.

So yeah, it was a little surprising that a girl his age - a pretty girl his age - would come into his mom's small flower shop a couple blocks away from all the other businesses.

Not that he was complaining.

Absentmindedly, he noticed a lanyard around her neck had 'Columbia University' all over it, which meant she was smart too.

"If you wanna be really passive aggressive, maybe you should just ignore him," Percy said.

The girl nodded. "Piper did tell me it was a waste of time."

Even though Percy had no idea who Piper was, he kept going. "If you give me his name and a general physical description, I could always mess up his order if he comes in," he offered.

There was that twinkling laugh again. "That's sweet, but I think I'm fine now. Thanks for distracting me with your impressive knowledge on flowers," she smirked, but her eyes were playful. Percy blushed.

"It's the least I could do," he teased back, making the girl smile wider.

"Annabeth," she said. "That's my name," she clarified.

Percy offered her - Annabeth - his hand with a smile. "Percy."

Annabeth smiled. "So, Percy," she leaned on the counter in a relaxed way. "Do people really come here to buy flowers to mean hate and disappointment and 'fuck you'?" She wondered.

Percy smirked. "Oh, no, you're definitely the first." He teased, to which Annabeth rolled her eyes.

A telephone ringer sounded, making Annabeth pull out her phone.

"Hi, Pipes," she said quickly. "I'm at the flower shop Jason told us about," she said after a short pause. "No, I wasn't joking about that," Annabeth scowled into the phone after another pause. "Oh, shut up, you know he was an ass."

Annabeth turned around, still on the phone, probably talking about something important. But she didn't leave.

Percy took this time to do something he had never done - use his job as a way of flirting with someone.

After a couple seconds, Annabeth hung up and turned back around. "Well, my roommate is insistent that I come back to the apartment immediately," the blonde rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure she's just lonely since her boyfriend is in L.A."

"That's tough," Percy said, and Annabeth sighed.

"I'll see you around?" She said to him, and hesitantly swiped the twenty dollar bill back into her purse, blushing. Percy nodded, and then pulled something out from behind the counter.

Annabeth's eyes widened at the bundle of flowers he had made her last minute.

She smiled hesitantly.

"It's not for the asshole," Percy clarified, a shy smile creeping on his face. "But since it seems like you're having a bad day, I thought you could use some pretty flowers."

Annabeth smiled. "These are yellow roses," she realized. "Aren't roses for love?"

Percy knew that only red roses signified love, but instead he just shrugged. "Take it as you wish," he said, making Annabeth laugh.

"They do mean friendship, though," Percy added, to which Annabeth smiled again.

"Thanks, Percy," she said softly.

"Then again, it can also mean betrayal and jealousy, but who cares about that."

Again, she laughed, making Percy feel accomplished.

"Alright, see you later," she said, still grinning. She held the flowers close to her as she turned and left the shop.

Percy ran a hand through his hair as the ding of the door meant that his customer had left. Outside, the sky was slowly darkening to make way for night, and Percy's shift would end.

He was still smiling.

And little did he know, Annabeth was still smiling too. Because she had found what Percy had put in her flowers.

His phone number.

Percy sighed, hoping he hadn't made a horrible mistake.

If only he could find a flower that meant 'fuck me.'


	2. Sequel Info!

**Hello readers! If you wanted a sequel/update, do not fear! I have published a companion piece titled "Coffee and Courting"! Go check it out if you're interested.**

 **Thank you so much for all the reviews! I was overwhelmed by all the positive feedback. I hope this continuation satisfies everyone. I personally like this one (the original) better, but I worked hard on the second as well. Thanks once again, and don't forget to review! :)**

 **Veronica**


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